Brand new HDD... failing?

AsdfNinja

Commendable
May 18, 2016
15
0
1,520
Hello guys. I've had many PC problems these days, but first a little backstory: ever since upgrading my graphics card in October 2015, my old hdd started making a weird clicking noise once a month. However, this clicking (and freezing) got extremely frequent in June, and after diagnosing the hdd with several corrupt sectors, I decided it's time to get a new one. And that was a factory new WD10EZEX with 7200rpm and 1tb of memory, using a SATA3 port. My motherboard has a SATA2, but other than slowing the hdd down that shouldn't present a problem. After setting the partitions right I installed windows 10, which I was using since day 1 without a problem. After that and setting up some important programs, I redownloaded DS3 to see if it will freeze again. It didn't freeze (right away) but I did notice an odd buzzing sound from the PSU whenever playing demanding games like DS3, Doom etc. Also, the buzzing would stop every 10-20 seconds, when the game would freeze. The next day however, while I was away and the pc was on, I came back to see it crashed. Turned it on, and the regular 8 sec startup was turned into a 40 sec one, because after 8 seconds on the win 10 logo screen thingy, the monitor turned off and on again, alongside the mouse and keyboard LED and continued the loading animation, but at 15-ish fps and lower resolution. The next 5min after launch the hdd was at 100% usage due to some system process. I downloaded HD Tune pro again to see if this one too is corrupted, but it found nothing. I kept playing ds3 and it suddenly froze and crashed again. This time, after launch I had no internet access and it kept freezing whenever I clicked anything. After running Windows memory scan which found nothing, and hardware troubleshoot which only found a missing coprocessor driver (which I can't download) I decided to revert to win 8.1. And that's when it culminated, by getting a DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION BSOD and, after restart, not recognizing the hdd until I replugged it. I'm sorry if this post was too long, but any help would really be appreciated!
 
Solution
Hey there, AsdfNinja.

It really sounds like the issue with the previous drive was a coincidence and that the GPU might be at fault here. So I'd recommend that you try updating its driver or try installing an older version, since sometimes the newer versions might have incompatibility issues, just to see if you'd still have those BSODs and freeze screens.

I know you've already tested the HDD, but just to be on the safe side, I'd also suggest that you give it a try with a different SATA port and different cables to see if that makes any difference. You could also run both tests (Quick and Extended) of DLG (Data Lifeguard), to see if anything out of the ordinary pops-up: How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard...
Hey there, AsdfNinja.

It really sounds like the issue with the previous drive was a coincidence and that the GPU might be at fault here. So I'd recommend that you try updating its driver or try installing an older version, since sometimes the newer versions might have incompatibility issues, just to see if you'd still have those BSODs and freeze screens.

I know you've already tested the HDD, but just to be on the safe side, I'd also suggest that you give it a try with a different SATA port and different cables to see if that makes any difference. You could also run both tests (Quick and Extended) of DLG (Data Lifeguard), to see if anything out of the ordinary pops-up: How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD
 
Solution

AsdfNinja

Commendable
May 18, 2016
15
0
1,520
UPDATE: The startup black screen thingy happened on my testing laptop too, but doesn't happen on Windows 8.1, so it may be a Windows 10 problem. As for the rest, boogie man seems to be right but I'm not sure about anything yet because my Internet still doesn't work.
 

AsdfNinja

Commendable
May 18, 2016
15
0
1,520
Yep that could be the problem too, my current psu is ancient and it actually doesn't have the 6 pin power connector my GPU (gtx750ti) needs. A tech-guy friend offered to install one, but warned me it's only temporary and it could backfire, since at the time I didn't have the money for the corsair CX500 that
I'm planning to get right now. Seems to be a pretty stupid decision when I look back at it.
 

AsdfNinja

Commendable
May 18, 2016
15
0
1,520

Oh man, I just got a whole new batch of problems. Finally got internet access and ran the lifeguard diagnostics which, after 3 hours, said that my HDD was all fine. After that, I ran the Heaven stress-test to see if everything is ok. Turns out, it scored pretty good but it's actually the gpu that buzzed like hell, so if that's coil whine, I guess it's unfixable. HOWEVER, on the next startup instead of the usual 5 seconds I had to wait 2 minutes and after that I got an error-ish message saying that "S.M.A.R.T. Capable but Command Failed". That sounds kinda scary.
 
RMA the GPU if it has issues. Since you got in October it should still be under warranty. It's good that the HDD doesn't report any issues but it could be a faulty port or a cable, so give it a go with different ones. Then again a faulty GPU could disrupt your whole system's performance just as most of the other components can, no matter if it doesn't seem this way.

Please keep me posted.
 

AsdfNinja

Commendable
May 18, 2016
15
0
1,520
Yep, all the hard drive problems were caused by a badly damaged sata cable that I assume was damaged the gpu fan. I'm no longer having any serious crashes or freezes (thanks for that!) but something still buzzes inside when the pc is under heavy load. Tommorow I'll test the fans and see if they are causing the noise.

 
That's a good idea. Also you've recently had to open your case a lot for everything and you've upgraded some parts awhile back, so I'd strongly suggest that you make sure that there are no loose cables and that all the screws have been properly tightened. This is necessary as vibrations from not securely connected components might be the cause for that buzzing sound as well.

I'll make sure to check you reply once you've posted it. :)
 

AsdfNinja

Commendable
May 18, 2016
15
0
1,520

Okay, forget everything that I said in my previous reply, I just ran HD tune pro again and this time it actually found 1 corrupted block with an "LGA175405872" error (nothing about it on google) and 2 minutes after that another watchdog violation bsod occoured, leaving the program with about 100gb unchecked. I launched my pc again but this time started the data lifeguard, which previously showed no problems, and upon reaching a certain point of around 40% it AGAIN crashed with a watchdog violation, only this time it restarted itself (normally the bsod screen would never go away) and after the 20s long motherboard screen it showed me this (picture linked below), and after pressing f1 saying "please insert boot disc", which I fixed by once again replugging the sata cable.
13692194_1069097109850812_2060849852_o.jpg


I'm really starting to think I should just RMA the hard drive :(

 

AsdfNinja

Commendable
May 18, 2016
15
0
1,520


Update #628: I (finally!) located the coil whine and it was actually from the psu I've got to replace anyways, and also I ran another HD test which said it's 100 percent ok, but after some testing it showed that the bugs have something to do with the way the pc is shut down which may be a Windows 10 prob. Hope it gets fixed with the new psu, I can't imagine how all these updates are annoying to you :D. Also, here's the pic again: https://scontent-fra3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t35.0-12/13692194_1069097109850812_2060849852_o.jpg?oh=cefff1e449724d5d5f87173edbde1654&oe=578EC86A
 
On the contrary my friend, those updates are pretty helpful. It's better for me to know what's going on instead of wondering what might be happening. Sorry I couldn't resolve the issue, but you did a pretty good job with finding the culprit. I guess we were both misled because of the weird tests results you got.

Anyway, the important thing is that the drive is OK and that you were going to replace the PSU all along.

Cheers!